Research Summaries

Back Multi-Commodity Push/Pull Logistics for Distributed Lethality

Fiscal Year 2018
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Atkinson, Michael P.
Kress, Moshe
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary Distributed lethality calls for smaller, agile, yet lethal, SAGs that operate in a distributed manner over a large area. This concept brings about a logistic challenge: how to satisfy demand that is distributed in many locations, which are dispersed over a large, contested area. Even in traditional settings such as CTF and CRUDES, the presence of ASBMs impose a significant threat to the legacy CLF ships. These developments in operational postures require modifications in the Navy combat logistics chain.
In addition to the fundamental logistical dilemma between flexibility and attainability, we also need to consider survivability of the logistics chain. The single commodity situation was studied in an earlier NRP study (1) for the case of “Pull” logistics, manifested in a “Gas Station” (GS)-type supply chain. In that study we developed a conceptual stochastic model for a Gas-Station setting and analyzed questions such as: Where should the GS be located in the communication zone? How does the capacity of the GS affect the combat readiness of the Adaptive Force Packages (AFPs) such as SAGs? What is the impact of the number of AFPs served by the GS on their time off station? Shall the Gas Station be a shuttle (i.e., a ship that goes back and forth to port to replenish) or a delivery ship that is being resupplied by a separate shuttle?
We plan to build on the models and analyses developed previously and extend them to address the following aspects:
- Mini-CLF: Introduce the concept of smaller multi-mode shuttles as a supply link between CLFs and AFPs in the forward operating area.
- Multi-commodity: Move from a single supply type to multiple types that compete for storage and transportation capacities.
- Push/Pull: Extend the Pull approach to a hybrid approach that considers both Pull and Push, including the optimization of meeting points.
1. Atkinson, M. P., Kress, M., and Szechtman, R, “Logistic Model for Distributed Lethality”, NPS, Monterey CA, Feb. 2017
Keywords
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Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal